Ebrahim Bham – Dealing with differences of opinion
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AI: Transcript ©
As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu.
Alhamdulillah, alhamdulillahi wa ahdahu wa salatu was salamu
ala man la nabiyya ba'dah.
Amma ba'du fa'udhu billahi minash shaitanir rajim,
bismillahir rahmanir rahim.
Wa min ayatihi khalqus samawati wal ardi wa
khilafu al sinatikum wa alwanikum.
Sadaqallahul Azeem.
My dear respected elders and brothers, Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala has created each and every
one of us different.
Allah ta'ala has created us different in
terms of our appearance, in terms of our
temperaments, in terms of our intellectual capacities, and
Allah ta'ala has made mention of this
in the Holy Quran in several ways.
In surah Qiyamah, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
makes mention, that the people who doubted resurrection,
they said, does Allah ta'ala, will Allah
bring us back to life after our bones
have become completely destroyed, obliterated?
Will Allah bring us back to life?
So Allah ta'ala replied to this by
saying, yes, we will bring you back to
life.
And Allah has the capacity to bring you
life with your very same fingerprints that you
had in this world.
Banana means fingerprints.
Not the banana that we eat, the banana
here in Arabic language means the fingerprints.
So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, I
will bring you back with the same fingerprints.
Now just imagine the significance.
That time perhaps Allah knows, today we come
to know, that everyone's fingerprint is distinct and
different from every human being created by Allah
ta'ala.
So Allah ta'ala has created us so
different.
Everyone's fingerprint is different from every other human
being.
Allah tells us, on the day of Qiyamah,
I will bring you back with the same
fingerprints.
So despite the fact that human beings are
so different, Allah ta'ala wants us to
be one.
So we all know the hadith, Nabi Kareem
Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam had said, المؤمنون كرجل واحد
إن اشتقى عينه اشتقى كله That believers are
like one single body.
If one part of the body is paining,
then the entire body feels the pain.
It doesn't happen that one part of the
body is restless and the body is completely
tranquil.
It doesn't happen like that.
So it could be even a small part
of the body.
If it is paining, the entire body feels
the pain and becomes restless.
That is how we are supposed to be
united.
That we are so supposed to be, despite
the fact Allah created us differently, we are
supposed to be united in such a manner
that we are supposed to be like one
single body.
And until we don't reach that stage, Allah's
help and assistance won't come upon us and
there will be no blessings in the ummah.
And that is perhaps one of the tragedies
of this ummah.
Mawlana Yusuf Sahib, the son of Mawlana Ilyas,
a very great scholar had said, Until we
don't become united, Allah's assistance won't come upon
us.
Anyway, that is one part, despite Allah creating
us different, Allah wants us to be one,
like one single body.
But I want to steer the talk today
in a very different direction.
Just as there is difference amongst human beings
in terms of their appearance, people also differ
in various other ways.
So in the verse I recited, Allah says,
Amongst the signs of Allah, He created the
heavens and earth, and He created you with
different colors and different languages.
Today we sometimes tend to look down upon
languages.
We sometimes make fun with regard to other
people's language, or the color of their skin.
Allah Ta'ala tells us in the Quran,
in surah Um, People having different languages and
different colors of their skin and their youth
is a sign of Allah's creative power.
It's not something to look down upon a
person for.
You don't look down upon a person because
he speaks a different language from you, or
he's a different color from you.
In fact, if you look down, just remember
what I'm saying, if you look down and
you regard as inferior another person on the
basis of the color of his skin, it
is not his fault.
You are taking out fault in the creative
power of Allah Ta'ala.
When you look down upon a person because
of the color of his skin, you are
actually undermining the creative power of Allah.
You are inferring that Allah Ta'ala created
something that is wrong.
So Allah Ta'ala says, I am among
the signs of Allah created in the heavens
and earth, and people of different colors and
different languages.
Just as that is different, and this is
very important for us to understand, people also
differ in the intellect.
So people will have different understandings of how
to reach conclusions, different methodologies.
People have different ways of thinking.
Just as there is a difference in people's
appearance, in terms, and I told you how
different they are in appearance, different in the
color of their skin, different in languages, different
in temperaments, there is also a difference in
people's intellectual capacity.
People think differently.
Now because people think differently, there is always
going to be difference of opinion.
Because people think differently, people have different intellectual
capacities, there is also going to be a
difference in the way people think.
And sometimes that difference come about because of
people's different intellectual capacities, sometimes because of temperament,
as I will go on to explain.
So if this is the case, if this
is the case, that people have differences in
personalities, in their appearance, and in their intellectual
capacity, there is always going to be difference
of opinion.
There is always going to be different ways
people reach conclusions, and there will be difference
of opinion.
And that is one of the challenges of
the age.
How do we deal with difference of opinion?
That is one of the most important things.
How do we deal with difference of opinion?
And in everything, in every relation, even in
marriage for example, marriage and relationships don't sustain,
are not sustained by the good times.
They are sustained when and how do you
deal with differences?
How do you deal with challenges?
How do you deal when things are not
going so well?
When things are going well, who is going
to have a problem?
Sometimes things are going well.
So they said that a couple one day,
they went for honeymoon, and after they went
for honeymoon, they came back.
So the mother of the bride phoned the
bride, and said, how is everything going?
And said, we had such a wonderful honeymoon.
Everything was so beautiful.
The holiday went well, it was so romantic.
Everything went well, the travel arrangement was excellent.
Everything was excellent.
And then she started crying.
So the mother said, why are you crying
now?
She said, oh my mother, since I came
back after the honeymoon, such a beautiful period.
Now you started using those four letter words.
Such horrible four letter words.
I don't know what you might be thinking.
She said, what four letter words?
And said, iron, dust, clear, cook.
You know, all of a sudden she's using
all those four letter words.
So there's a time you have to be
able to deal with those type of situations
which are challenging.
To have a good time.
In a similar manner, just as we have
differences of opinion, and because of this difference
of opinion, there will be, you have to
deal with it in marriages.
There is also going to be difference of
opinion in religious matters.
This is a sensitive thing.
We need to speak about it.
And we need to speak about it with
the sensitivity that it deserves.
There is going to be difference of opinion.
One of our greatest scholars of recent time,
Mufti Mehmood Sahib Rahmatullahi, who was a grand
mufti of Darul Umar Dioban, and he came
to South Africa many a times, and he
passed away in South Africa, buried in the
East End, in Johannesburg.
So he has written a book, Hudood-e
-Ikhtilaf, The Boundaries of Difference of Opinion.
And in that book he writes an amazing
thing.
He said, Consensus, complete consensus will only happen
in two situations.
Complete consensus will only happen when people are
dumb, don't have intellect, and people are dishonest.
He said complete consensus will only happen in
two situations.
People are dishonest and people are dumb and
are stupid.
So, they are dumb and stupid, or they
don't use their intellectual capacity, so they can't
formulate thoughts.
They can't formulate intellect.
They can't form their own opinion.
If there are people of intellect, they are
going to form their opinion, there will be
difference of opinion.
And sometimes there will be consensus because of
dishonesty, meaning a person is in a gathering,
people talk about something, he has a different
thought, or he doesn't agree with what is
being said, but he doesn't have the integrity
and honesty to say, I don't agree with
this.
They say, where there are people of integrity,
and there are people of intellect, there is
always going to be difference of opinion.
And now, before I even make mention with
regard to how do we deal with difference
of opinion in religion, it's important for us
to have a complete, you know, a rider
from the very beginning.
Here we are not talking about difference of
opinion on fundamental issues of deen.
We are not talking about difference of opinion
on fundamental...
There can be no difference of opinion in
fundamental issues of deen.
Something that is aqeedah, Allah is one.
The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is a
messenger of Allah.
He is a khatamun nabiyyin.
He is a seal of prophets.
Anyone who believe as a prophet after our
beloved Nabiye Karim sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, he
cannot be a Muslim.
This is the reality.
The ulema of the world have taken a
view with regard to groups that have, you
know, given and have said that there is
a prophet after our beloved Nabiye Karim sallallahu
alayhi wa sallam.
They are not Muslims.
There can be no difference of opinion.
There can be no difference of opinion on
clear-cut established norms of halal and haram.
Five times daily salat is faraz upon everyone.
There can be no difference of opinion on
that.
Inna salata kanatil mu'mineena kitabun muquta.
There can be no difference of opinion on
the hurmat and on the prohibition of interest
soon.
Ahallallahu albayt wa haram alriba.
I have made trade halal, I have made
riba haram.
There can be no difference of opinion with
regard to the prohibition of zina.
La taqrabul zina innahu kana fa'isha.
Don't come near zina, it is an immoral
deed.
There can be no difference of opinion on
established notions of halal and haram and there
can be no difference of opinion on aqidah
in which the entire ummah is united.
But on sub-divisional issues.
On issues where Islam allows a scope of
difference of opinion.
Where it is not the fundamentals.
It is not clear-cut halal, not clear
-cut haram.
There will be difference of opinion and those
difference of opinion must be respected.
Those difference of opinion must be respected.
And sometimes those things come about because of
different reasons.
Sometimes it becomes of temperament.
Sometimes it becomes of perception.
Many years ago, many people might not be
knowing but maybe the elderly amongst us might
be knowing that Mawlana Pallan Haqqani came in
the late 60s, early 70s.
And when he came, of course, there was
a great amount of people who followed him.
So one day he gave this example of
a person.
People didn't know.
There were few blind people and someone told
them go and look at the elephant and
go and put your hand over the elephant
and come up with a conclusion.
What does this elephant look like?
Someone came up and looked at the trunk
and said there is a big trunk in
front of it.
Sometimes people looked at the great feet of
the elephant and they started putting their hands
there and said the feet is like the
trunk.
Someone looked at the skin and they said
the skin is like this.
Now that perceptions are not wrong.
Even if three different people have different perceptions
about what the animal and what elephant was
it's not the wrong thing.
It was according to their perception.
Sometimes difference of opinion happens because of temperament.
Let me give you an example from the
life of Nabi A.S. So at the
time of the battle of Badr, they were
prisoners of war.
So when the prisoners of war came, what
must we do with the prisoners of war?
First time you had to deal with prisoners
of war in an Islamic setting.
So Abu Bakr r.a said, Ya Rasulullah,
these are people like us.
They are our family.
Have mercy upon them.
Have clemency upon them.
And if we have mercy upon them, maybe
these very same people will become Muslims in
time to come.
And exactly that is what had happened.
Because Allah Ta'ala, Nabi A.S. and
Abu Bakr r.a, if he was accepted,
showed mercy to them, afterwards they became Muslims
and they became great Muslims.
Umar r.a said, Ya Rasulullah, these are
people who have come out against truth.
And this is the first battle of truth
and falsehood.
Let each and every one of them be
executed.
So that the people of falsehood know that
they should not play around.
Or they should not take chances with people
of truth.
And I am also suggesting that here there
are people who are the family members in
Medina who have migrated.
They must be the ones to execute the
closest family members.
To show that there is no blood ties
that is beyond our faith.
So Nabi A.S. heard these two views
and he made an amazing analysis.
Nabi A.S. said, Oh, you know, he
called the sahaba and he said, Some people
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala had made their
hearts soft.
And sometimes certain people Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala had made them harsh upon the truth.
And they are steadfast upon the truth.
And oh Umar, your example is like Hazrat
Noah a.s. Who said, Oh Allah, do
not leave one single disbeliever alive in this
world.
And oh Umar, your example is like Musa
a.s. Musa a.s. made a dua,
رَبَّنَا اطْمِصْ عَلَىٰ أَمْوَالِهِمْ وَاشْجُرْ عَلَىٰ قُلُوبِهِمْ فَلَا
يُؤْمِنُوا حَتَّىٰ يَرَوْا الْعَذَابَ الْعَلِيمِ Oh Allah, destroy
Firaun.
And put a seal on his heart that
he must not become iman, he must not
see and bring iman until he sees your
punishment.
And that's exactly what happened.
So Firaun when he was dying, he said,
حَتَّىٰ إِذَا أَدْرَكَهُ الْغَرَقُ When he was being
drowned, he said, آمَنْتُ أَنَّهُ لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا
لَذِي آمَنَتْ بِهِ بَنُ إِسْرَائِيلٍ I bring iman
upon the Lord of Bani Israel.
So you see, he saw the truth after
Allah's azab.
And Allah Ta'ala replied and said, أَلْأَانِ
وَقَدْ أَسَّيْتَ قَبْلُهُ Now you want to bring
iman after all the corruption and the oppression
that you had done.
So oh Umar, your example is like Musa
a.s. and Noah a.s. And oh
Abu Bakr, your example is like Ibrahim a
.s. وَمَن تَبِي أَنِي فَإِنَّهُ مِنِّي Whoever follows
me is part of me.
And oh Allah, whoever follows me is part
of me, he will show mercy upon him.
But if anyone is disobedient, you are also
ghafoorur rahim, you are also forgiving and merciful.
I always tell people, Ibrahim normally, Ibrahims are
normally kind and compassionate.
Allah makes mention, إِنَّ إِبْرَاهِيمَ لَا حَلِيمٌ أَوَّاهُ
مُنِيبٌ Now people find that also to be
objectionable.
What must we do now?
So Ibrahims are a little bit like that.
They are inclined towards forgiveness and kindness.
And oh, you know, what I'm giving an
example is, sometimes differences of opinion is because
of that particular temperament.
So how do we deal with this?
The important is we have to understand.
After understanding, no difference of opinion is allowed
in terms of fundamentals and on established halal
and haram.
But after that, in the time of our
beloved Nabi A.S. That's why we have
to respect this difference of opinion.
The time of Nabi A.S. After the
Battle of the Trench, Nabi A.S. and
the Sahaba felt that the fight is over,
the battle is over, they give the Sahaba
relief.
The enemies that, you know, had departed.
And Jibreel A.S. came and said, Oh
Prophet of Almighty Allah, you have taken off
your armor.
The angels haven't done so.
They say you have to go and deal
with the tribe of Bani Qurayza.
Who, despite the agreement that was made in
Medina, that they will protect Medina, they conspired
with the enemies against the Muslims.
We have to go and deal with them.
So Nabi A.S. told the Sahaba, now
listen to this.
Go and read, rush to Bani Qurayza, we
have to deal with them.
And you go and read Asr Namaz in
Bani Qurayza.
And on the way, Asr Namaz was becoming
Qaza.
Coming to the time of Maghrib.
One group of people said, Nabi A.S.
told us we must read Asr in Qurayza.
Even if it becomes Qaza, we are going
to read Asr Namaz in Qurayza.
We are going to read Asr.
They took it literally.
The other group said, Nabi A.S. men,
go quickly.
And if in the way, you know, there
is a fear that we are going to
miss Asr Salat, let us read Asr Salat
on its time, then we will go to
Qurayza.
There was a difference of opinion.
Both parties did according to that, because they
were trying to establish what was the meaning
of Nabi A.S. instruction.
And after that, Nabi A.S. didn't say
anyone is right or wrong.
He didn't say anyone is right and wrong.
He established and he said Alhamdulillah to both
the parties.
Difference of opinion.
Trying to find out what was the method,
and what was the real objective of Nabi
A.S. saying.
Sometimes they are this type of thing.
Hazrat Sheikhul Hadith, Hazrat Muhammad Zakariya Sahib, and
everyone by and large, you know, respects him.
The person who compiled Fazali Amal, read so
many different interpretations and commentaries of Hadith book.
He said an amazing thing.
He said, where there is difference of opinion,
and there is scope for difference of opinion,
and it is handled correctly, there will never
be fitna.
There will never be corruption.
If there is fitna, in difference of opinion,
it is because we have not been able
to show respect.
And we have not been able to deal
with the difference of opinion correctly.
And we are finding this in today's time.
Imam Shafi'i A.S. went to the
Qabar of Imam Wahnifar A.S. And there
he read Fajr Salah.
And despite the fact that Imam Shafi'i
A.S. believed that to read Qunut, after
second Ruku in Fajr is compulsory, and he
believes in rafaya day, lifting your hands, on
that particular Fajr, Imam Shafi'i A.S.
did not do any one of those two
things.
And someone said, Imam Shafi'i, what did
you do?
Isn't this your view?
Isn't this what you believe in?
He said, out of respect for the person
in this Qabar.
Out of respect for the person in this
Qabar who held another view.
I didn't do this.
And I'm not telling that people must do
this.
I'm just giving an example from our illustrious
history.
And there are so many examples among the
sahaba.
Hazrat Ali and Hazrat Muawiyah r.a, you
know, had a civil war because of an
issue about how to deal with the killers
of Usman r.a. Long story, I can't
go into it.
But despite the fact, when Ali r.a
passed away, Hazrat Muawiyah started crying.
His wife said, why are you crying?
When you had duels with him.
You know, you had difference of opinion with
him.
He said, I'm crying at the departure of
knowledge.
One day in the time of Hazrat Muawiyah
r.a, a very close confidant and a
very close companion of Ali r.a came
to visit.
So Muawiyah r.a told him, give me
the qualities of Ali r.a. And he
started giving the qualities of Ali r.a.
So beautiful qualities of Ali r.a. He
started crying.
Hazrat Muawiyah r.a started crying until his
beard became wet.
This was with regard to a person with
whom he had difference of opinion.
And that difference of opinion was exploited by
the munafiqeen which led to war.
But that is how they respected one another.
And this I can go on giving so
many different examples with regard to it.
That even in later times, two of our
great scholars in India, Muawiyah r.a and
Muawiyah Husainabad Madani r.a differed with whether
the establishment of Pakistan.
So we all know that whole particular incident,
that partition happened in 1947.
So Muawiyah r.a was in favor of
Pakistan and he wrote a whole treatise why
Pakistan must be formed.
Muawiyah Husainabad Madani r.a said, you are
weakening the Muslims.
And he had many reasons.
Some wonderful reasons why Pakistan and India must
remain one.
And one of the reasons is to show
you the vision of the ulama of the
time.
Sometimes you feel ulama don't have vision.
So Muawiyah Husainabad Madani r.a had written,
that the time will come there will be
major blocks.
There will be major power blocks.
And of course it happened.
The communist block and the capitalist block, NATO
and the Warsaw Pact.
And if we are going to be small
countries, we are going to become subservient to
those power blocks.
But if we remain one big country, we
will be a power block on ourselves.
We will not need to be subservient to
any other power block.
That is why we should not have partition.
Be as it may, partition happened.
But despite the fact that they used to
respect one another.
When Maulana Madani r.a because of his
opposition to the British colonialists was arrested.
So that particular time Maulana Madani r.a
was like weeping.
And he was very sad.
So someone told him.
Someone from the muridin, the people who were
around him.
Yeah, but he himself went against the British.
So he got arrested.
So he got arrested.
So what's the big deal?
So what did Maulana Madani r.a say?
That Husain r.a also went, despite the
other companions telling him not to go to
Karbala and Kufa.
Does it lessen our pain because of his
martyrdom?
Because he went on his own.
So what are you telling me that Maulana
Madani r.a went on his own and
therefore if he got arrested, I mustn't feel
the pain.
And then he said, I didn't realize how
much love I got for Maulana Madani r
.a. After his arrest, when he was feeling
so much pain.
He said, I didn't realize how much love
I got for Maulana Madani r.a. Brothers,
I think we need to start seriously looking
at these things in our present context.
I'm not saying, firstly there are few things
you must do from all of these things.
What are the few things?
First, never lose sight of the bigger picture.
Never lose sight of the bigger picture.
People who believe in Allah and His Rasul
s.a.w. will always be more closer
to you than those who do not believe
in Allah and His Rasul.
Why do we carry on that the people
who believe in Allah and His Rasul are
greater enemies to us than the enemies of
Islam?
At a time like this, are we supposed
to make big about the differences of opinion
that happens amongst us?
When we have such great challenges, when the
enemies want to annihilate Muslims?
We need to lose sight of...
we never lose sight of the bigger picture.
When Hazrat Muawiyah and Hazrat Ali r.a.
were fighting, the Christian king wrote to Muawiyah,
I will help you against Ali.
Right?
I will help you.
And at that time there was this duel
that they were.
There was a difference of opinion.
Muawiyah r.a. wrote back and said, The
day you cast an evil glance in the
direction of Ali, I will be the first
person to stand behind Ali to fight against
you.
I will forget my difference of opinion.
I will stand with Hazrat Ali to fight
against you.
Don't dare take advantage of our difference of
opinion.
The second thing is, you see, religious argumentation.
Let me just try to conclude this.
Religious argumentation is something that is for the
learned scholars.
I am not saying you should not become
a scholar.
Become a scholar.
But religious argumentation is for the ulama and
the religious scholars.
You don't, as ordinary people, don't get involved
in that.
Follow those whom you got trust in and
whom you rely upon.
But don't go around as a person who
doesn't understand the arguments, doesn't understand the evidence
for you to go and give, you know,
for you to give an expert opinion, you
need to be an expert.
If you don't have that, follow the one
whom you got the greatest reliance and trust
on.
But don't become part and parcel of criticizing
other ulama.
This is not something that we should do.
And another important thing is, stay away from
heated arguments.
Stay away from heated arguments on religion.
It solves nothing.
Imam Malik said that argumentation in religion, it
loses sight and it takes away the intellect.
Religious argumentation and especially when arguments become heated,
you can't see the correctness of any view.
Because you are blinded by prejudice and you're
blinded by hatred.
And above all, and I will conclude with
this, difference of opinion should never ever lead
to hatred.
Never ever lead to hatred.
I mean, you know, when we say that
there are certain things that are clear cut,
then why don't we make the very same
thing with regard to this particular matter?
Nabi A.S. said, لا تباغضوا.
Don't hate one another.
Today, unfortunately I must say, and this is
something my own opinion, that we have almost
made hatred into a virtue.
Really, people have made hatred into a virtue.
Yet Nabi A.S. said, لا تدخلوا الجنة
حتى تؤمنوا.
You can't enter Jannah until you have iman.
ولا تؤمنوا حتى تحبوا.
And you don't have iman until you love
one another.
Your iman is not complete until you don't
love one another.
Yet people make hatred into a virtue.
So don't, no matter the difference of opinion,
hold your view, follow the one whom you
want to follow.
But don't get involved in hatred.
لا تباغضوا.
Nabi A.S. And this is the last
hadith.
Nabi A.S. said, ألا أذلكم على شيء
إذا فعلتموه تعبنا.
Nabi A.S. said in one hadith, that
should I not tell you, ألا أخبركم بأفضل
درجة قائم الليل وسائم النهار.
Should I not tell you something that is
greater in rank.
Then نفل صلاة.
نفل فاص.
بلاء رسول الله.
تلاس يا رسول الله.
الإصلاح ذات البين.
Bring people together.
Reconcile people.
Don't create نفرة.
Don't create hatred.
And then Nabi A.S. said, because hatred
shaves off.
And because shaving has got to do with
the hair, Nabi A.S. said, I don't
say it shaves off your hair.
It shaves off your entire deen.
Hatred shaves off your entire deen.
All your good deeds get wiped away because
of hatred.
May Allah give you a tawfiq of understanding.
So in brief what I may mention, Allah
Ta'ala has treated us differently.
Even in intellectual capacities, because of that there
will be difference of opinion.
We need to manage those difference of opinion
in our relationships and everything.
Similarly with regard to religious matters, there will
be difference of opinion.
But not in fundamentals, not on clear-cut
established halal and haram.
In those issues where there is scope for
difference of opinion, there must be respect for
one another.
There must be respect for the opinions of
one another.
I gave you a string of examples from
the life of Nabi A.S.'s companions and
great people of the past.
And then I made mention with regard to
it.
From here what we learn, always look at
the bigger picture.
Always don't get involved in religious argumentation.
Especially those who are, who don't have the
expert opinion.
Follow the one whom you have reliance and
trust in without criticizing anyone else.
And never allow difference of opinion to lead
to hatred.
Because hatred is something that has been condemned
in the Quran and the Sharia.
May Allah be with you.